Sunday, November 09, 2008

Van She @ Heineken Green Room, Zouk KL, 01.11.08

The night I had been looking forward to since a month ago. Thank god we arrived early to avoid getting stranded outside Zouk in the long queue and missing the beast of the night Van She. We even managed to ambush the quartet before the place is packed for a quick photo shoot and brief chat. A stage was set up at the dancefloor right in front of the deck for the live set.

Van She came on stage soon after LapSap's deck warm-up around 10.30pm. The band kicked off with the psychedelic and trippy Cat & The Eye. Next the poppish Changes exploded with vocalist Nicky Routledge's mesmerizing woooh-ooooh’s and the charmingly catchy chorus. The girls up front were all dancing along to Van She's brand of 80's synth pop with a touch of rock n' roll. The band played more songs from their incredible debut V, such as the euphoric Talkin', the rock-out The Sea, the perfect single Strangers and the old favourite Kelly. Songs taken out from self-titled EP were also played - Mission and Sex City which is sampled in the equally amazing Crystal Castles' Vanished.

The band's bassist Matt Van Schie lend his vocals in the deliciously bizzare It Could Be The Same. Matt was a mere kilometre from me, so I had a good eyeful of him, I clearly understand why the lanky frame and blonde crop make him the object of 19-year-old teenage girls in Australia. Drummer Tomek Archer dropped his drumsticks and emerged from the obscured corner to lend his hands on the sequencer on So High, the final track of the set. The waves of satisfaction I experienced from the live set was dampened by the rather short duration and the disturbingly annoying photographers who were fighting for spots with the audience at the front. These photographers disguised as fans were constantly snapping away throughtout the whole set with their arms getting on our way.

It was not over yet. Vocalist Nick Routledge and guitarist/keyboardist Michael Di Francesco took over the deck briefly after Dexpistols' pounding set. Known as Van She Tech in the remix scene, the boys dropped some awesome tunes to fuel everyone on the dancefloor. The night ended with local boys LapSap spinning their usual anthems. That's the Heineken Green Room and what is awaiting us at the next installment?